'Ecstasy' kills girl aged 10

A 10-year-old girl has died after taking what police believe was ecstasy.

Jade Slack died last night hours after she reported feeling unwell. She had spent the afternoon with a friend, also aged 10, at a house near her home in the village of Galgate near Lancaster when she complained of sickness.

She was taken to Lancaster Royal Infirmary by ambulance as crews fought to save her, but died at about 7pm. Police said that Jade was taken ill at the house of someone known to her friend.

Two women and a man, aged between 18 and 20, have been arrested and are waiting to be questioned over the schoolgirl's death. Officers recovered articles from the house which they believe to be ecstasy.

Detective Superintendent Ian Jones said: "While we cannot confirm that Jade died as a result of this, it is obviously a strong line of inquiry. This is a tragic waste of a young girl's life and yet another indication of the terrible consequences of taking drugs."

A post-mortem examination is being carried out by a Home Office pathologist. Results from toxicology tests will also be known in a few days.

"The test will establish just what she did take. What we want to know is whether she found it or was given it," Mr Jones said.

Jade is believed to be the latest in a long line of youngsters who have died after taking the class A drug. Ecstasy comes in tablet form and can contain various ingredients.

An overdose of ecstasy results in the body's major organs heating up to a level that they can no longer function. There is growing concern about the use of hard and soft drugs in Britain after David Blunkett announced plans last week to relax the rules on cannabis.

The Home Secretary faces accusations that his cannabis policy has opened the door for Britain's drugs laws to be dismantled piece by piece.

Today's shock news will add further weight to the argument of campaigners and parents who believe drugs are being used too widely and openly.

Doctors have said the drug causes only 10 to 20 deaths a year, a tiny percentage of those who use it recreationally. As a Class A drug, ecstasy ranks alongside heroin and cocaine. But campaigners, including some senior MPs, argue that it is far less dangerous than heroin and want it downgraded and r a n ked with amphetamines.

Ecstasy, often referred to as a "rave drug" because of its popularity among young nightclubbers, has claimed more than 100 victims in Britain.

Leah Betts is a testament to cannabis's dangerous role as a gateway to harder drugs. The teenager collapsed and stopped breathing after taking an ecstasy tablet at her 18th birthday party in 1995. She died in hospital five days later.

In May last year, the parents of Lorna Spinks, 19, released a picture showed the horrifying effects of the drug which, users claim, fills them with feelings of warmth and love.